The word to describe music at All Saints' is "eclectic." A typical Sunday service might involve singing a hymn from the 16th century, a contemporary Spanish Alleluia, listening to a popular song and thinking about how its message relates to how God is working in our lives, rocking out to Black Gospel music, having meditative piano music lead us into prayer and listening to a Bach fugue played on the organ. We explore songs from cultures other than our own, while also providing attention to the rich musical heritage of the Anglican church. And we are a singing congregation; there are five or six songs/hymns most Sunday mornings. Songs and hymns are chosen from a wide variety of sources including, but definitely not limited to The Hymnal 1982, the current Episcopal hymnal; from Lift Every Voice and Sing II, an African-American Episcopal hymnal supplement.
We have an old but reliable pipe organ (with a "new" console, which should make it much more reliable than in recent experience) and a piano in the sanctuary; both are used to accompany choir and congregational singing. Members of the parish regularly share their musical gifts as guest instrumentalists, cantors and vocal soloists.
Please contact our Associate for Music and Administration, Beau Surratt if you are interested in participating in any of the musical activities at All Saints'.
All choirs welcome new members. There are no auditions, and prior experience and music reading ability are helpful but not necessary. However, singers should feel confident about carrying a tune and be able to match a pitch played on the piano.
The 9:00 a.m. choir meets to rehearse at 8:00 a.m. on Sundays and sings at most 9:00 services, September through June. This group sings with 11:00 singers for combined choir dates: All Saints Day, Advent Lessons & Carols, Christmas Eve, Ash Wednesday, Easter Vigil, Easter Sunday and Pentecost and rehearses with that group from 7:30-9pm on at least two Wednesday nights preceding a combined choir date. New in the plans for 2011 are seasonal combined choir rehearsals to take place on Saturdays from 10am-2pm to enable us all to get a head start on service music and choir anthems for upcoming seasons. Dates will be announced in the All Saints' e-newsletter and at rehearsals.
The 11:00 a.m. choir service meets to rehearse on Wednesday evenings from 7:30-9pm and at 10:15 a.m. Sunday mornings. This group sings at most 11:00 services, September through June and combines with the 9am Choir for combined choir dates: All Saints Day, Advent Lessons & Carols, Christmas Eve, Ash Wednesday, Easter Vigil, Easter Sunday and Pentecost. New in the plans for 2011 are seasonal combined choir rehearsals to take place on Saturdays from 10am-2pm to enable us all to get a head start on service music and choir anthems for upcoming seasons. Dates will be announced in the All Saints' e-newsletter and at rehearsals.
During Advent and Lent we hold Wednesday evening prayer services in the style of the Taize community in France. These are candlelight services with sung and spoken prayers, scripture readings, and meditation. The 7:00 pm services are led by lay people, including singers and instrumentalists.
There is no organized bell choir, but we have a set of tone chimes that are played by choir members, volunteer ringers, and the congregation. We have been experimenting with Christmas carols, hymns, and service music accompanied by chimes played from the pews by ringers of all ages.
